Best Vegan Summer Sandwich. Ever.

As I'm not living with my own kitchen anymore, inspiration has been rather little and far between, hence the huge gaps between posts. There's plenty of stuff I could just type up from memory and post, but I haven't felt like mentally revisiting things that I can't make right now due to lack of ingredients or the tiny problem of all my kitchen equipment living in four or five plastic storage crates stacked in the corner of my borrowed bedroom. About the only thing that has changed all of that is that two weeks ago I was told I could eat gluten again, as I had been given wrong advice based on my test results of almost a year ago. Oops. Not that being gluten free has been all the difficult, save for the occasional craving for a grilled cheese since I gave up on gluten free bread pretty quickly (gluten free brownies on the other hand, not so much :) ) but it's nice to be able to eat pasta and bread again along with not having to worry about ordering takeout or any of that in the future. The first thing I ate when I was allowed to reintroduce the stuff was a brie and apple sandwich on french bread. It was heavenly. And if you really need to know how that's made, just thin slice granny smith apple and stack that on one side of a split baguette and then spread brie on the other half (I scrape it off the rind, as I HATE brie rind) and squish the whole thing together. For a 14 inch or thereabouts sized baguette I usually end up using around one apple, if not a little less, but that's my taste. You can also use fontina cheese (though NOT the one from trader joes, it's just nasty) and vary the apples, but I like to have at least a semi-tart apple with the cheese. I've heard of people going so far as to make the sandwich with white bread, cream cheese and apples, but I've not done that yet.
Anyway, that sandwich isn't vegan, though it could be if you used vegan cream cheese :) The vegan bits come into play as I've decided to have most of my food come from vegan food groups with only the occasional foray back into vegetarian (cheese, eggs) and even less occasionally meat. Apparently I just don't know what to do with myself if I don't have some sort of dietary restriction anymore. I'm keeping a little of the dairy/meat stuffs as I really do like them, it's just getting expensive to eat the good stuff and I don't like subbing out cream cheese for brie. Not that produce is getting any cheaper, but with the international markets it's not so bad, and there's a lot of variety in those along with the farmers' markets that are booming around here right now. Summer means a lot of things, but mostly zucchini (as anyone who's ever planted it knows) along with tomatoes, corn, okra and all sorts of other good (and mostly green) veggies. Summer has usually been represented in my sandwich repetoire by a version of the zucchini sandwich my mom made a lot when we were little--fried zucchini and fresh tomato slices on buttered toast. That one is pretty damn addictive in and of itself, but not quite what I wanted the last few days. For one, we're out of sliced bread. Again. And no, it's not me that's eating it. For another, we stopped frying zucchini about a decade ago and now bake it, but in order to do either you have to dip it in beaten egg before dredging it in bread or cracker crumbs. Not vegan to say the least, and it doesn't stick if you don't do it (believe me, we've tried, usually by mistake). Cheese cracker crumbs also melt and burn to the cookie sheet, in case you're curious. So being that it's still summer (even if school is back in session) I decided that the zucchini in the fridge was going to be dinner, sandwich style. I've been reading a cookbook I've had for about a year now called Veganomicon and came across their recipe for white bean aioli, which is meant to be either a dip or a spread. If you like garlic and lemon, make it, it takes 10 minutes and a blender and is incredibly worth it. The other important modification was the bread. I ditched white bread slices in favor of bake-at-home baguettes (trader joes, I love you). These loaves are about 18 inches long and kind of skinny, even for baguettes, but bake up with a lovely crisp crust and soft innards, just the way I like it. Tonight I had this sandwich for dinner accompanied by a pea salad and chocolate cake. Yeah, you're really deprived if you go vegan. Brew a huge glass of iced mint tea and go outside to eat this truly yum dinner.


Vegan Zucchini Sandwich
(Serves 2-3, depending on who's cutting the sandwich)

Ingredients:
-1 small to medium zucchini, sliced
-seasoning salt or whatever seasoning blend you happen to like and have on hand--I use King Street Blues Rib & Butt Rub
-olive oil for sauteeing
-1 medium tomato, sliced
-white bean aioli (recipe follows)
-1 18 inch long baguette, split lengthwise

Directions:
Slice the zucchini into rounds, on the bias or flat strips. Whichever shape is easiest for you to work with is fine, but I wouldn't use tiny chunks like you'd cut for stir-fry, as they'll fall out everywhere. Sprinkle slices of zucchini with the spice blend of your choosing (at the very least salt and pepper). Sautee the slices in just a little bit of olive oil over medium-high heat until cooked to your liking--I prefer them to be al dente. Remove from heat and let cool a bit on a paper plate or paper towel to absorb some of the water and oil in them. While the zucchini is cooling, slice your tomato and spread the aioli over both halves of the baguette. Assemble sandwich by stacking zucchini slices and tomatoes on the dressed bread and topping with the other half of the baguette. Slice into whatever portion sizes you like and serve.

Notes:
-You may want to drain your tomato slices by pressing them with paper towels, as the sandwich can be a little drippy otherwise. If you don't, have a few napkins handy. If you don't want tomatoes, leave them out. The sandwich is still good.
-If your loaf is on the thin side, toothpicks are a good idea to hold the thing together when slicing and eating. Wrapping individual sandwiches in foil works too and can help catch the aforementioned drips.
-If you don't feel like making the white bean aioli for this, Vegenaise or any other vegan mayonaise works very well as a substitute (and no garlic). Just spread thinly over the baguette and proceed as normal.


White Bean Aioli
(Adapted from Veganomicon by Isa Chandra Moskowitz & Terry Hope Romero, p62)

Ingredients:
1 15oz can navy or great northern beans, drained and rinsed (I used cannelini, they worked fine too)
2 Tbsp lemon juice
1/4 tsp salt
Fresh ground black pepper, several pinches/to taste
2 Tbsp flax oil (original recipe calls for 1/4 cup olive, use whatever you have on hand or prefer)
6 cloves garlic, chopped (I used jarred)

Combine beans, lemon juice, salt and pepper in blender or food processor and puree until smooth, scraping down as needed. Set aside. Heat garlic and oil in a small pan over medium heat for about three minutes. Original recipe calls for you to heat but not brown the garlic, I browned mine intentionally the second time as the first time had a VERY garlic hit to it. The choice is yours. When garlic is cooked to your liking, scrape garlic and olive oil into the blender and puree. Taste for salt, lemon, pepper and adjust to your liking. Scrape out of blender and into a storage container and refrigerate until ready to use. Makes around 1 1/2 cups.

Notes:
-Ok, I lied a bit here. I didn't puree this in two batches, I just cooked the garlic and then dumped it in with the whole beans and did it all in one go. The second time I followed the two part directions. Honestly, couldn't tell a difference save that I cooked the garlic longer the second time.
-This comes out sort of hummus-textured/thick. If you want it thinner for a dippy/saucy consistency you can thin with a little water and whir in the blender to incorporate. For the sandwich this isn't necessary.
-This is the best artichoke dipper ever. By that I mean steam or microwave your artichoke, then dip the leaves into this instead of lemon butter or real aioli. WAY less guilty, which means you can eat another artichoke, which is always a good thing :) You may want to make it a little bit thinner and puree until it's totally smooth if you use it for artichoke leaves, but it's not necessary.
-Regarding oils--I don't think this needs as much oil as the recipe originally called for. It tastes really good with that much olive oil, and if you're using olive it might be worth it, but the creaminess of the beans themselves doesn't need much to make a good dip. I used flax oil because of the omega-3s, as this is a way to add a little extra without really noticing it. I'm all about finding new ways to use flax and flax oil right now, as I've discovered that I love the stuff and it happens to be good for you.


Garlic Pea Salad
AKA, this is what happens when I get bored...

Ingredients:
-1 1 pound bag frozen peas, thawed
-1/2 to 2/3 cup white bean aioli
-optional--handful of pitted kalamata olives, chopped fine or a few tablespoons of kalamata tapenade

Directions:
Thaw the peas on the counter, in the fridge or with warm water and a colander, but do not microwave--you want them bright green and fresh tasting. Stir the aioli into the peas, starting with a couple of spoonfuls and adding more until the peas are sauced to your taste. If using the olives or tapenade, stir into peas until evenly distributed. Serve cold.

Notes:
-This would be great picnic food, as there isn't anything that could make you sick after sitting outside for a few hours.
-I imagine this would also work very well for a potato salad made with waxy boiling potatoes. Ok, it would probably top a baked potato pretty well too. I like the aioli/olive combo on just about everything so far.
-Don't make this for a romantic date. It's just a bad idea. In fact, only make the cake on this page for a romantic date, unless you sub vegenaise for the aioli in the sandwich.

Amazon Cake
This is one of my favorite cakes, and I FINALLY found the original NYT article that I got it from forever and a day ago. Ah, New York, I miss you sometimes. I've only made one change from the recipe here, and that's to experiment with the oil called for. I've successfully used canola, olive, hazelnut and of course, flax, without any really noticeable difference in the taste, save for when I use straight olive if the oil itself is very strong. Light olive would probably be fine, but if you've only got a bright green extra virgin sitting around, you might want to cut it with at least 2 tablespoons of a lighter oil, otherwise it can have a somewhat salad dressing kind of aftertaste. I spent some time last year playing with this trying to make a sugar free or low sugar version, and I'm going to save you time now by saying don't bother, it doesn't work. Unrefined granulated will probably work fine, but agave, honey and splenda don't. This cake is vegan, but you'd never know it to eat it--it's very moist and very chocolatey. Honestly, if I gave it to you and didn't mention it, you'd never guess. My favorite way to serve this is with whipped topping (take your pick of which kind) and strawberries, but it's equally good eaten plain with a glass of milk (cow, almond, soy, whatever).


Adapted from ''Cafe Beaujolais'' by Margaret Fox and John S. Bear (I totally copied the recipe straight out of the article, as it's so easy there was no need to alter the directions)

Ingredients:
-1 1/2 cups flour
-1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa
-1 teaspoon baking soda
-1 cup sugar
-1/2 teaspoon salt
-5 tablespoons corn oil
-1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla
-1 tablespoon cider vinegar
-Confectioners' sugar.

Directions:
Heat the oven to 350 degrees. Whisk together the flour, cocoa, baking soda, sugar and salt. In a separate bowl, whisk together the oil, vanilla and vinegar with 1 cup cold water. Whisk in the dry ingredients, blending until completely lump-free. Pour into a greased 9-inch round cake pan. Bake for 30 to 35 minutes, or until the top springs back when pressed gently. Cool before removing from the pan and dusting with confectioners' sugar, or frosting if desired. Yield: 6 to 8 servings.

Notes:
-You can have this always at the ready by mixing up the dry ingredients ahead of time and keeping them in plastic bags. All you have to do to mix the cake in two minutes is to dump the wet ingredients into a cup, swirl around a bit to break up the oil and then whisk into the dry ingredients. I've even heard of people mixing this in the pan they bake it in. I've not tried it, but it can't hurt.
-Make this in a round cake pan. It does OK in square, but it just seems to like the round better.
-This is a very stable cake to use to make a layered chocolate something. I made a "German Chocolate Cake" out of this once by baking two of them and then frosting and filling with canned coconut/caramel icing. It went over well.
-I very rarely bother with the confectioner's sugar. It looks pretty and tastes fine, it's just more work than I bother with unless I'm using the cake for company.
-You can use other acids, but I prefer the apple cider. If you use lemon and olive oil, then it really comes out tasting oddly of salad dressing. The leavening in the cake comes from the acid/base reaction of the vinegar and baking soda, so an acid is a crucial ingredient here, but with so few ingredients the one you choose can be important. I've not tried it with orange juice yet, but will eventually and will post the results when I do.
-For a vegan ho-ho/devil dog kind of treat, use a cake leveler or a long knife to the cake into thin rounds and roll them with a little cool whip. This is a great way to use the bits you get when you level the cake for layering. Waste not and all that :)
-This also works very well with raspberry sauce made by pureeing frozen raspberries in syrup (strain out the seeds if you feel like it, but they don't interfere with the taste).